Nicholas Chevalier (1828 - 1902)

Nicholas Chevalier (1828-1902)
Chevalier was born in St Petersburg, Russia. He studied painting in Switzerland, moving to London in 1851 achieving some success in painting and lithography. He arrived at Melbourne in 1855, visited the goldfields, attended to his father’s business and planned his return to Europe but the newly-established Melbourne Punch and later, the Illustrated Australian News found his talents invaluable and he decided to stay. He was very popular as artist for Melbourne Punch and in establishing himself in Melbourne colonial society as a painter and lithographer. After exploring and painting in many parts of Victoria, Chevalier visited New Zealand where he travelled widely, painting landscapes that reminded him of his ancestral home. From 1882 he was London adviser to the National Gallery of New South Wales. He died in London on 15 March 1902.